PIERRE, (KCCR) — A former Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Human Resources Director has been sentenced for embezzling money from the Tribe. U-S Attorney Alison Ramsdell says 35 year-old Mariah Sazue of Fort Thompson will serve three months in federal custody and ordered to repay over 44-thousand dollars to the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. Sazue was H-R Director for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe from June of 2022 to May of last year. In December of 2022, Sazue started submitting time sheets that had forged signatures and grossly inflated overtime hours. Sazue collected 44-thousand 627-dollars and 25-cents in excessive overtime pay before she was fired by the Tribe for fraud in May of 2024. When confronted by Tribal officials, Sazue said she would never take advantage of the Tribe. Two years of supervised release are also a part of Sazue’s sentence. She was indicted by a federal grand jury in September of 2024 and entered a guilty plea this April. Sazue was sentenced for Embezzlement from an Indian Tribal Organization last Monday.
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